The Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) is a research campus of the Louisiana State University System in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Research at the Center is focused on the interrelationship between nutrition, health, and disease. Scientists here are engaged in both basic and clinical science in an integrative approach studying the causes and consequences of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Other areas of research include the neurobiology of gastrointestinal function and energy balance and investigation into botanical compounds that provide health benefits beyond their nutritive value. Principle investigators apply modern molecular biological techniques including genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic methods in conjunction with animal models in their research projects. Forty-eight of eighty-five scientists on faculty have active animal protocols. Providing adequate laboratory animal facilities for these research efforts is critical to their continued research success. The overarching goal of this proposal is to improve the imaging and phenotyping capabilities and expand the procedure room space within the Comparative Biology Core. In 2004 the Center opened a new basic science laboratory building and 2005 the Center launched a five year plan, "Vision 2010", both of which stimulated the hiring new faculty and unprecedented growth of the Center. The recent growth in faculty has increased our need for additional rodent phenotyping and imaging capabilities and has intensified the pressure on available procedural space to conduct experimental manipulations. This proposal if funded will allow the renovation of three spaces in the Comparative Biology Core. Aim 1 would renovate an antiquated X-ray laboratory to perform in vivo imaging with a Xenogen IVIS rodent imaging system. Renovations proposed in Aim 2 will divide a large laboratory into a rat NMR laboratory for performing body composition analysis and a general use procedure room. Aim 3 renovations will provide a phenotyping lab and a procedure room in our barrier facility. These renovations will improve our phenotyping and imaging capabilities and increase procedure room space to accommodate present needs and projected faculty growth. These improvements should serve the needs of the scientists at the Center for the next three to five years.